Harry Potter in a new format

So what is this big Harry Potter announcement JK Rowling got us all excited about? Read on for all the details!

Love the Harry Potter series? Now you can love it in a brand new, interactive format. The big surprise JK Rowling had us guessing at for the last week is here!

Rowling says that she is finally offering the Harry Potterseries as e-books! If that sounds a little anticlimactic after all the hype, don't worry -- it gets more exciting.

Rowling says the series will be sold as e-books and audio books in multiple languages through the interactive website Pottermore.com, combining elements of social networking, computer gaming and an online store.

"You can't hold back progress," Rowling said. "E-books are here and they are here to stay."

As for those hoping for a new book in the Harry Potter series, well, that isn't happening any time soon -- but Rowling is releasing an additional 18,000 words of new material never before seen by readers, including "information I have been hoarding for years" about characters and settings.

By selling the newly formatted e-books directly on her own site, Rowling is bypassing e-book giants like Amazon but says the books will be compatible with all popular e-readers like the Kindle, Sony's Reader and the iPad.

"It's very important to Jo to make the books available to everybody, not to make them available only to people who own a particular set of devices, or tethered to a particular set of platforms," said Tom Turcan, chief operating officer of Pottermore Ltd.